King Richard and the Crusaders * (1954, Rex Harrison, Virginia Mayo, George Sanders, Laurence Harvey) – Classic Movie Review 9572

Director David Butler’s 1954 historical romantic adventure King Richard and the Crusaders is based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Talisman and stars Rex Harrison, Virginia Mayo, George Sanders and Laurence Harvey.

The film’s Crusaders are defeated by an abominable script by John Twist, supposedly based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Talisman but full of clichéd, unintentionally comic lines.

During the Crusades, in the Holy Land in 1191, Arab chief Emir Hderim Sultan Saladin (a miscast Harrison) is struck by the charms of Lady Edith Plantagenet (Mayo), the cousin of King Richard the Lionheart (Sanders). But she is already fancied by the king’s trusty knight Sir Kenneth of Huntington (Harvey) who foils a plot against the King.

The bored-seeming cast engages in a number of duels and battles, which prove routine and lacklustre, while the movie ends up more a mix of royal soap opera and feeble farce than the fun swashbuckling adventure that was intended.

Showing his class, Sanders helps as a supercilious, caddish Richard.

Also in the cast are Robert Douglas, Michael Pate, Paula Raymond, Lester Matthews, Henry Corden, Nick Cravat, Lumsden Hare, Erik Blythe, Anthony Eustrel, Wilton Graff, Leslie Bradley, Bruce Lester, Mark Dana, Peter Ornitz, John Alderson, Harry Cording, Leonard Mudie, Robin Hughes, Paul Marion, Leonard Penn, Larry Chance, John Epper, Guy Prescott, Gavin Moore, Otto Reichow, and Rudolph Anders.

King Richard and the Crusaders is directed by David Butler, runs 114 minutes, is made and released by Warner Bros, is written by John Twist, based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Talisman, is shot by J Peverell Marley (WarnerColor), is produced by Henry Blanke, is scored by Max Steiner and is designed by Bertram Tuttle.

The film mysteriously dumps Walter Scott’s villainous Knights Templar for an invented military order of ‘Castelaines’ or ‘Castlers’, led by Sir Giles Amaury (Robert Douglas).

It is released by Warner Home Video (1993) (US) (VHS) (pan/scan) and (2012) (US) (DVD).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9572

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